The #FearlessInOctober protest recorded a low turnout in the Federal Capital Territory and states amid the heavy presence of security operatives.
This was as the organisers of the protest, the Take It Back Movement, rejected the planned 30-day National Youth Confab, announced earlier on Tuesday by President Bola Tinubu.
The group described the initiative as ‘’a jamboree” designed to reward the President’s supporters.
In his Independence Day address, Tinubu announced plans to convene a youth conference which he said would be held for 30 days to address and discuss challenges facing the Nigerian youth, who accounted for more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population.
“I am pleased to announce the gathering of a National Youth Conference. This conference will be a platform to address the diverse challenges and opportunities confronting our young people, who constitute more than 60 per cent of our population.
‘’The 30-day confab will unite young people nationwide to collaboratively develop solutions to issues such as education, employment, innovation, security, and social justice. The modalities of this Confab and selection of delegates will be designed in close consultation with our young people through their representatives. Through this confab, it will be our job as leaders to ensure that their aspirations are at the heart of the conference’s deliberations,” the President said.
Reacting to the plan, the National Coordinator of the Take It Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, noted that the President did not organise any confabs before implementing his policies.
He said, ‘’I think President Tinubu wants to lavish taxpayers’ money to organise a jamboree for his supporters. We saw some of them that were paid, NANS (National Association of Nigerian Students), singing his praises in Abuja, so I think that is simply what the President wants to do.
“What confab did he organise before he awarded a private jet to himself costing billions? Did we hold any confab before he decided to use billions of naira to construct an apartment for the Vice President? Or which confab did we hold before they started paying themselves huge allowances, budgeting billions for kitchen utensils?’’
Continuing, Sanyaolu added, “As a matter of fact, what confab did the President hold before increasing the price of fuel, even between August and now, to over N1,000? Even, some are buying at N1,500. Nigerians don’t need a confab.
“We don’t need our money to be wasted on organizing a jamboree for his supporters in APC or wherever they come from. Nigerians need good governance, and it is not a confab that will fix that.”
Asked whether the protest will continue, Sanyaolu said “The protest continues, but the new date will be announced because I am aware that there are still people in different states who want to protest. But we are going to announce the next days, which we will definitely not be far from now.”
Speaking to The PUNCH, the Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, disclosed that the Federal Government would set up an implementation task force to spearhead the implementation of the recommendations from the upcoming youth confab.
Adding context to the nature of preparation, Olawande said it included creating an implementation task force for various issues on the agenda.
“We are going to roll it out very soon, and we are going to have the terms and conditions, the areas, the views and all that. And we are still going to plead with the President to give us what we call an implementation task force so that immediately, where we need to do an Executive Order, we put it up.
“Those (recommendations) that need to go to the National Assembly, we take it off and we start having this as quickly as possible. So, it’s a done deal,” the minister noted.
Olawande said the process leading to Tuesday’s announcement stemmed from extensive stakeholder consultations.
Although the initial brief proposed four days for the dialogue, the President recommended a one-month confab.
He explained, “I was very happy because I’ve been telling the young people in my constituency that the President is a listening President. Last month, we brought many young people together and talked to ourselves. After the strategy meeting, we told ourselves that we needed to get all the youths from all the parties to come and talk, strategise together and present something to the President.
“We called it a Youth Dialogue. We consulted with all the stakeholders. After consulting with the stakeholders, the President listened to us and said, ‘Fine, you want to dialogue within four days, right? But for me, I want to expand it, and let’s see how you can come together as young people of this country.
“We believe in this country and know that it belongs to us. This is what you’ve seen today, and we are very happy with it. It’s a very good development, and we are preparing to roll out things very soon with all stakeholders involved, which the President has consulted.”
The Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, promised to support the recommendations from the youth confab, saying such an initiative was overdue.
He stated, “The need for a youth confab at this point cannot be overemphasised. The youth, like the President, who is also duly recognised, constitute over 60 per cent of our population or demography. And I believe that the time to listen to the youth is not just when they are on the streets protesting.
“If we can hear them loud and clear when they are protesting, we should be able even to hear them louder when we are all seated through a confab to discuss in a very articulate manner.
“So it would be a welcome development. We all look forward to that. And as elected representatives of the people, we also will ensure that we join in creating a conducive amosphere and environment for the youth confab.”
The lawmaker also said that the National Assembly would give due consideration to the Economic Stabilisation Bills, which were approved at the last meeting of the Federal Executive Council.
Unimpressed, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Coalition for United Political Parties criticized the President’s decision to hold a youth confab, describing it as ‘a misallocation of priorities.’
The PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, argued that the move highlights the President’s lack of ideas on governance.